Her Perfect Life

Starred review from July 5, 2021
Boston TV reporter Lily Atwood, the protagonist of this superlative thriller from Mary Higgins Clark Award–winner Ryan (The First to Lie), “has it all—fame, fortune, Emmys, an adorable seven-year-old daughter.” Recently, Lily has acquired “a new and unerringly knowledgeable source,” known only as Mr. Smith, who has steered her and her longtime producer, Greer Whitfield, to some “slam-dunk stories.” Now, Mr. Smith seems to have delved deeper into Lily’s own story, in particular the incidents in her life she would prefer to keep hidden. The suspense builds as the narrative shifts among the points-of-view of Lily and Greer, and flashbacks to what happened to Cassie, Lily’s older sister, who disappeared without a trace 25 years earlier, when she was 18. The appearance of the father of Lily’s child, who hitherto has shown no interest in the girl, raises the stakes. Through masterful plotting and subtle characterizations, Ryan creates niggling doubts in the reader’s mind as to Lily and Greer’s motives while keeping the novel’s outcome deliciously uncertain. This is a fast-paced, surprise-packed treat. Agent: Lisa Gallagher, DeFiore Literary.

August 1, 2021

In her latest stand-alone (after The First To Lie), Ryan ratchets up the tension as protagonist Lily Atwood's personal and professional lives collide. Lily is an award-winning television reporter who owes her last two big breaks to an anonymous source. That source is still calling her, but now the messages are more personal and clearly targeted at Lily and her seven-year-old daughter Rowan. Mr. Smith's news tips seem to have become part of a cat-and-mouse game that he's playing with Lily, and they may be connected to the disappearance of Lily's older sister years ago. Cassie disappeared from college when Lily was seven; that loss shaped the rest of Lily's childhood. She has spent the intervening years looking for Cassie everywhere. Pulled into the mix is Lily's producer Greer, who has her own agenda and who may endanger everything she and Lily have built. VERDICT Ryan has a sure hand with her page-turning, twisty plotting and complex, multifaceted characters. Readers looking for a fast, thrilling read will love this one.--Jane Jorgenson, Madison P.L., WI

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from July 15, 2021
A successful TV journalist and doting mom fights threats from the past and in the present in this fleet mystery. Lily Atwood seems to have it all--a thriving career as a crusading TV reporter, a throng of Emmys, a darling little daughter, and an adoring fan base that has dubbed her #PerfectLily. But Lily has secrets, the most haunting among them the disappearance of her sister when Cassie was a college freshman and Lily just 7 years old. Cassie vanished in the aftermath of a fire on her college campus that injured one of her professors and might have resulted in another student's death. After an intensive search, law enforcement interest in Cassie dwindled, but Lily never believed her sister was dead. Despite her reporting skills, she hasn't been able to find a trace of Cassie--until an anonymous source who's given her several legitimate tips about unrelated stories drops a bomb. The source claims he (or she; Lily isn't sure about the voice) knows Cassie is alive and where to find her. Lily's producer, a workaholic woman named Greer Whitfield, is soon in on the secret thanks to Walt Banning, a detective who seems to know a lot about the cold case. Lily is torn between wanting to find her sister and wanting to protect her own flawless public persona--if Cassie has stayed in hiding for so long, perhaps there's a very unpleasant reason. Lily is also reflexively protective of Rowen, her 7-year-old daughter and the center of her life. And there's another secret connected to Rowen--the girl has never met her father, and Lily wants to keep it that way. Ryan deftly switches points of view among Lily, Greer, and, in chapters set just before her disappearance, Cassie, keeping the reader guessing about characters' identities and different versions of events as the tension mounts. A well-crafted plot and strong female characters drive a satisfying psychological thriller.

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